We do admire what Ubisoft is trying to do with its downloadable content at the moment, but we fear the experiment is not working. Based on our preview we have serious misgivings about Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and The Tyranny Of King Washington has been getting less interesting with each episode. They’re all great ideas on paper, but when stretched out into full games the magic just isn’t there.

This is the third and final part of The Tyranny Of King Washington, the strange alternative history epic that takes place in a parallel world where George Washington proclaims himself king of American and Connor never became an assassin. Ubisoft has been careful to point out that the game’s story is canon, and that there is an explanation for what’s going on – centring around Washington’s possession of a mind-controlling Apple of Eden.

Each of the episodes is set in a different open world area from Assassin’s Creed III and this time it’s 18th century New York. Except in this version of history New York has a giant pyramid in the middle of it, erected by Washington so he can barrack the starving population from its balcony. Unlike Boston from the last episode the version of New York presented here is significantly different from how it appeared in the original game, hinting again at not just a larger effort than usual for downloadable content but also a larger budget.

But The Redemption begins as Connor fights his way into New York harbour, aboard his ship the Aquila. The downloads have avoided naval combat up until this point, but in what is clearly an attempt to whet your appetite for Assassin’s Creed IV (protagonist Edward Kenway is even mentioned by name) the opening sequence goes all out with an impressively cinematic battle.

It’s arguably the most fun in the whole story, especially compared to the disappointment once you get on terra firma and unlock the third and final mystical ability. This time it’s the power of the bear which lets you perform a shockwave-emitting ground pound and… that’s it. Compared to the wolf and eagle powers, which you still get to use, it’s disappointingly mundane.

It is fairly useful though because New York is crawling with soldiers and stealth is almost impossible for any but the most patient and skilled. We certainly had a terrible time of it and having to run off and hide almost every step quickly becomes a hateful grind. There is some welcome variation to the missions once you get to them, but they’re still mostly just variants and reruns of ideas from the main game.

The Redemption has its highs and lows but the experience could, and should, have been elevated by the conclusion of its story. That the final boss battle is a wash isn’t surprising, since it’s never been a speciality of the series, but what will infuriate anyone that’s sat through all three downloads is that the explanation and resolution is disappointingly brief and hugely unsatisfying.

Exactly what you see is also dependent on how many memory glyphs you’ve collected in the previous episodes, which seems a terrible misjudgement for a game which is sold almost entirely on the novelty of its setting and the expectation of a satisfying explanation for what’s going on.

Although we suppose that’s never been a forte of the series either, but even so the finale is underwhelming and seems to have no special importance in terms of the wider franchise narrative. It’s also disappointing to realise that the story has no significance beyond its face value. There’s no wider allegory or metaphor at work here, it really is just a what if story about a guy with a magic apple.

Given the solid foundations on which it’s built The Tyranny Of King Washington was never going to be a complete failure. But the promise of the setting is never properly realised and the real appeal is simply replaying the original but with slightly different powers and characters. In other words, after all the grand intentions and bold ambitions the experience ends up just as forgettable, and just as inessential, as most other downloadable content.

In Short: A frustrating ending to what has become an increasingly disappointing download series, even though the premise remains one of the most imaginative for years.

Pros: The setting is still an intriguing one and in terms of ambition alone this is far more impressive than most downloadable content. The opening naval battle is great.

Cons: The resolution of the story falls flat and New York is so stuffed full of soldiers that getting anywhere is a chore. Boring new spirit power and predictably poor final boss battle.